OK, enough shenanigans -- we have a whole league to discuss (and rank). And in addition to the content below, be sure to check out the "Power Rankings Show" on NFL.com and NFL NOW. We go in-depth on the league hierarchy -- and show some video, to boot! Lastly, be sure to share your take: @HarrisonNFL is the place.

We laid out some general
Packers thoughts above, so let's go more micro here ...
Aaron Rodgers now has 23 touchdowns and zero interceptions at home, with a 132.6 passer rating. Seriously, those are Tecmo
Super Bowl numbers. And thus, this is also an appropriate time to mention that many people took umbrage with
my comment in last week's Power Rankings that
Tom Brady is the best quarterback since Joe Montana. Rodgers' name was mentioned quite often on my Twitter feed
(@HarrisonNFL) and in the comments section. As fantastic as he is, A-Rodge doesn't have the time served (this is his seventh year as a starter) to threaten. Here is how I have the post-Montana QBs stacking up -- i.e., here are the best of all the guys who entered the NFL in the '90s and beyond. (For now, anyway.)

Sure, Denver allowed things to get a smidge too close for comfort
against the Bills on a day that
wasn'tPeyton Manning's -- Sunday's passer rating of 56.9 was the lowest for Manning since he posted a 46.8 on Nov. 30, 2008 in Cleveland. But the
Broncos' defense took care of business for the most part -- well, until garbage time. The two interceptions of
Kyle Orton were huge.

RANK

4

9-4SEAHAWKS

2

Some 24-14 games are actually close deals, but
the Seahawks' win in Philadelphia was not. Although it was interesting listening to
Eagles fans boo when Seattle cornerback
Tharold Simon's injury stopped the game in the fourth quarter, thereby slowing Philly's fast-paced offense. You see, they
really wanted to watch
Mark Sanchez hurry up and throw another 3-yard pass. ...

RANK

5

9-4COLTS

Andrew Luck's career continues to parallel that of John Elway, with Luck committing multiple turnovers before overcoming his
own mistakes late. The third-year pro displayed incredible resilience once again in leading the
Colts to
a comeback victory over the
Browns. At the same time, perhaps the highlight shows of the world could point out that Luck's turnovers were what put Indy in the position of having to come from behind in the first place. The
Colts' defense, on the other hand, was solid for
both halves in Cleveland.

RANK

6

10-3CARDINALS

1

I'd thought the
Texans'
Bill O'Brien might have been closing in on the
Cardinals'
Bruce Arians in the Coach of the Year race. Not so sure anymore. You don't often hear more about a coach than his players, yet in Arizona, the star is clearly the man with the headset.

RANK

7

9-4EAGLES

3

Sunday's loss to the visiting
Seahawks must've driven Philly's fans crazy. At some point, don't you have to push the ball downfield? I mean, I love none-yard passes to
Darren Sproles and
Jeremy Maclin, but come on, you're down 24-14 late in the fourth ... I agreed with Troy Aikman's in-broadcast analysis that the play-calling left something to be desired.

RANK

8

9-4COWBOYS

Dallas got
a much-needed road win in Chicago on Thursday, dispelling those stupid December stats we'd been hearing about
ad nauseam -- as if some kind of monumental shift actually happens on Dec. 1 every year.
DeMarco Murray continued his
on-field brilliance with yet another 100-yard day. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

RANK

9

9-4LIONS

Nice to see Detroit control the flow of
Sunday's win over the Bucs, although the
Lions don't get a move up in our rankings -- not with nearly every team in front of them also winning. They'll have to win on the road to get that to happen.

... aaand the
Dolphins continue to make their backers absolutely bonkers. This team has cornered the market on mediocrity since Y2K, or at least given Nic Cage a run for his money. Spoke with a
Dolphins beat writer Sunday morning who told me the club views
Lamar Miller as someone who gets weaker as the game progresses, hence the limited carries. Methinks running the football 18 to 20 times -- especially given Miller's 4.8 yards-per-carry mark -- would slow down pass rushes like the
Ravens'.

RANK

16

7-6TEXANS

2

Call
Ryan Fitzpatrick what you will: placeholder, bus driver, game manager ... well, alright, so he
is kind of a game manager. But it's his baby right now, and at least he didn't make plays to hand his opponent a win, à la
Blake Bortles,
Josh McCown and
Brian Hoyer. So let's allow this thing to play out.

Power Rankings side note: I might be coming around on that "
J.J. Watt for MVP" push. Maybe.

RANK

17

7-6BILLS

2

The
Bills made it interesting in the end
at Denver; in fact, they accumulated 285 yards of offense in just five second-half possessions. Of course, the
Broncos had already jumped out to a 21-3 lead.

The bottom line is, this club is eventually going to have to enter the expectation phase, in which the
Bills will actually be expected to
beat a good team on the road as opposed to getting kudos for keeping it close. Not trying to be harsh; that's just what this pro game is all about.

RANK

18

6-7RAMS

2

Do you realize the
Rams have won their last two games by the combined score of
76-0?! How does that even happen in today's world, what with every spot getting reviewed and 2-yard runs deciding games in the giant parity party that was Paul Tagliabue's grand vision? How do the
Rams, of all teams, go back-to-back like that, jack?

It's not looking good for San Francisco these days.
Colin Kaepernick seems more skittish in the pocket than
Newman trying to escape Jurassic Park with the dino DNA in that shaving-cream can. Speaking of,
he would probably have more luck running for a touchdown than these Niners, who have scored all of one TD in their past 24 drives.

Big ups to the
Vikings. Entering this season, not sure a lot of people would have put them at 6-7 at this stage of the season, not with Minnesota playing in the NFC North. In fact, I think most analysts had them at 6-10 for the year. Kudos to first-year coach
Mike Zimmer.

Of all the crazy things to happen in Week 14's games, tell me anything --
anything -- matches what the
Panthers' defense
accomplished in New Orleans. How often does a defense go into the Superdome and limit a
Sean Payton/
Drew Brees offense to three points past the halfway mark of the final quarter? I went back and looked at every home game in the Payton era, and it's never happened. What we're saying is,
Ben Watson's late touchdown came in what was the very
definition of garbage time. What a performance.

RANK

24

5-8SAINTS

2

If you didn't read the
Panthers blurb, do so now; we'll wait a few moments. ...

OK. So what's the issue,
Saints fans? New Orleans has never played like this in front of the home folk. Sure, Rob Ryan's defense is deservedly coming under fire, but what about the offense? Is it the play-calling?
Drew Brees? The receivers? The offensive line? (Hit me up
@HarrisonNFL.) The crazy thing here is that New Orleans can still win the NFC South.

RANK

25

4-9GIANTS

While it's certainly been a challenging season for Big Blue, I've been saying on both "NFL
Fantasy Live" and NFL NOW that you never see a
Tom Coughlin-coached team quit. How about that defense in
Sunday's win over the
Titans? Three turnovers forced, one touchdown, eight sacks and zero points allowed. Tennessee converted just three of 16 combined third and fourth downs. And if you played against someone in fantasy who started the
Giants' D [raises hand], you got deep-sixed, dude.

RANK

26

5-8BEARS

3

Sorry to see that
Brandon Marshall will
miss the remainder of what's been a very tough year for a guy who was arguably as premier as anyone entering 2014. One thing is true about Marshall: He really
cares. Can you say that about every single one of his 'mates? I know a lot of people who would answer that question with some passion.

RANK

27

2-11BUCCANEERS

1

Josh McCown simply can't afford to
commit turnoverslike that. Not on the road, against a top-flight defensive unit like the
Lions'. If there ever was a time to be a game manager, that was it. Of course, it would help if the
Buccaneers' ground "attack" did anything but attack your senses.

RANK

28

3-10REDSKINS

Hated to see
Colt McCoy falter on Sunday. Hint to Washington: There's this new invention called "pass protection" that allegedly helps quarterbacks thrive. Speaking of thriving, can a
Redskins fan explain to me how this team is supposed to do anything close to that when the head coach and "starting" quarterback -- or the front office and the head coach -- don't seem to be on the same page?

RANK

29

2-11RAIDERS

3

If you're a
Raiders fan, you have permission to run around the house in your underwear, hootin' and hollerin' for a week. Don't do the dishes, forget the laundry and let all those address labels sent to you by charities sit on the floor. So happy for that fan base. The team, meanwhile,
deserves big props -- which you see reflected in this jump.

RANK

30

2-11JAGUARS

1

As happens so often with bad football teams, the
Jaguars let the second half
get away from them Sunday. That's OK; the same fate befell the last "Planet of the Apes" movie. Jacksonville came out of halftime with a 13-10 lead over the
Texans -- then proceeded to run 13 plays over their next three drives for a total of minus-1 yard. Oy.

RANK

31

2-11JETS

Rough start for
Geno Smith. I can only imagine the reaction across sports bars in Brooklyn, Long Island and Jersey when Geno
got pizza rolled right off the bat,
throwing a pick-six on the first play from scrimmage
against the Vikings. But how about the way the kid didn't fold? Don't know about you, but I saw a team that kept playing Sunday.